More landmarks for Virat Kohli

Queries Corner

In the Lord’s Test match against Ireland, England’s Jack Leach batted at No. 11 in the first innings and then at No. 1 in the second innings. Has any other player done this in Tests? – Rajesh Kamath, Chennai.

In Test cricket history, 17 players have opened the innings and batted at No. 11 in the same Test match. But Jack Leach is the only second player to do so on the opening day of a Test match. Leach emulated another Englishman, Harry Butt, who on debut, way back on February 13, 1896, at Port Elizabeth batted at No. 11 in the first innings and then batted at No. 2 in the second innings on the opening day of the Test.

Lasith Malinga recently claimed a wicket off the final ball of his career. How many others have done this in ODIs? – Ramesh Narayan, Surat.

In ODI cricket several players have achieved this. However, Lasith Malinga became the only second Sri Lankan player after Tony Opatha to achieve this. Opatha in his final ODI at Manchester against India in the 1979 World Cup claimed the wicket of Bishan Singh Bedi off the final ball of the match, when Sri Lanka created an upset beating India by 47 runs!

How often has Virat Kohli gone without an ODI century in terms of innings? – Akhil Shetty, Bangalore.

The longest Virat Kohli has gone without an ODI century is 17 innings from February 27, 2011, to September 11, 2011. During this period he hit four half-centuries, with a highest of 94. His next longest innings without an ODI century is 16 innings from August 4, 2012, to July 2, 2013.

Is it true that Indian batsmen have the highest run aggregates against the West Indies in all three formats? – Ajit Kumar Goyal, Kolkata.